The Stormers secured a home Semi-final when they beat the Bulls 38-10 at Newlands in Cape Town in the final scheduled match of the 2010 Super 14.
The bonus point victory moves the Stormers into second place which means that they will host the Waratahs next weekend and the Bulls will host the Crusaders.
The match next week will be the Stormers first home Semi-final since the 1999 season.
Even though the Bulls selected a second string team the writing was on the wall very early in the match as former Bull Bryan Habana scored the first of his two tries in the fourth minute.
This was the first time that the Stormers have managed to beat the Bulls in a Super 14 fixture even though they enjoyed the luxury of facing the a second-string Bulls outfit.
The Stormers showed at the outset that they were keen to run the ball at every opportunity and the largely inexperienced Bulls were hard-pressed to contain their early sorties, which proved both entertaining and penetrative.
Leftwing Bryan Habana opened the scoring in the match against his former teammates with a fourth minute try which was splendidly converted by flyhalf Peter Grant from the touchline.
Habana was fed with the scoring pass by his skipper Schalk Burger and although the pass looked decidedly forward referee Jonathan Kaplan did not intervene.
In the next 11 minutes of play Grant and his opposite number Jacques-Louis Potgieter exchanged penalty kicks to keep the scoreboard ticking ahead of the clock.
There was no let-up by the Stormers who looked full of running and in the ensuing passage of play they were handsomely positioned to score several times but players selfishly hung to the ball when teammates were lurking wide.
When the Stormers did eventually spread the ball wide Habana cantered in for his second try in the 23rd minute and four minutes later lock Andries Bekker snatched a third try for the hosts. Grant succeeded with one conversion.
The Bulls mounted a few promising attacks ahead of the break without any reward. Instead Grant snapped over a third penalty just ahead of the halftime whistle to extend the Stormers' lead, and by this time the match was clearly over as a contest .
In view of the fact that the rest of the weekend's Super 14 programme had already been completed the Stormers knew before the match that only a victory against the Bulls would ensure them a home semifinal against Australia's Waratahs next week.
The Bulls, on the other hand, had already secured a home semifinal regardless of the outcome of their match against the Stormers.
After the break the Stormers pounced with a fresh sense of urgency, seemingly in search of a bonus point try, much to the delight of the 48,739-strong crowd.
They launched one attack after the other but tigerish defence by the Bulls kept them out, and even when the visitors were reduced to 14 players (centre De Wet Barry was sin-binned) the Stormers could not find a way to the opposition's tryline.
Instead a penalty by Grant was their lone advance in the opening 20 minutes of second-half play.
The Stormers cleared their substututes' bench and the fresh legs helped them to make the breakthrough when centre Jaque Fourie dotted down behind the posts after excellent work by Gio Aplon in the build-up.
Grant's conversion helped to stretch the lead to 38-3 in the 62nd minute.
This try sparked the imagination of the crowd who broke out in several rounds of Mexican waves, as a celebration gesture to mark the Stormers' advance into next week's semifinal round.
But try as they might for another touchdown errors crept into the Stormers' game and one try-scoring chance after the other went a-begging.
The visiting Bulls closed out the scoring in the match with a 78th minute try by Ruan Snyman, and Francois Brummer added the conversion.
Final Score Stormers 38 Bulls 10
Scorers
Stormers
Tries - B Habana 2, A Bekker, J.Fourie
Pen - P. Grant 4
Con - P. Grant 3
Drop -
Cards - B Habana (77th min) Yellow
Bulls
Tries - R Snyman
Pen - Jacques-Louis Potgieter
Con - F Brummer
Drop -
Cards - De Wet Barry (52nd min) Yellow.
Man of the match : Peter Grant
Match Officials
Referee: Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Jaco Peyper (South Africa), Reuben Rossouw (South Africa)
Television match official: Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)
Teams
Stormers - 15 Joe Pietersen, 14 Gio Aplon, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Juan de Jongh, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Peter Grant, 9 Dewaldt Duvenage, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Francois Louw, 6 Schalk Burger (c), 5 Andries Bekker, 4 Adriaan Fondse, 3 Brok Harris, 2 Tiaan Liebenberg, 1 Wicus Blaauw.
Reserves: 16 Deon Fourie, 17 Eusebio Guinazu, 18 Anton van Zyl, 19 Pieter Louw, 20 Ricky Januarie, 21 Willem de Waal, 22 Tim Whitehead.
Bulls - 15 Tiger Mangweni, 14 Jaco van der Westhuyzen, 13 Stephan Dippenaar, 12 De Wet Barry, 11 Deon Helberg, 10 Jacques-Louis Potgieter, 9 Heini Adams, 8 Pedrie Wannenburg, 7 Gerrit-Jan van Velze, 6 Derick Kuun, 5 Bakkies Botha (c), 4 Flip van der Merwe, 3 Bees Roux, 2 Bandise Maku, 1 Jaco Engels.
Reserves: 16 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 17 Dean Greyling, 18 Fudge Mabeta, 19 Okkie Kruger, 20 Ruan Snyman, 21 Francois Brummer, 22 Stefan Watermeyer.
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